Setting Up a Test or Teaching Environment For XenServer

XenServer on XenServer

This is not a usage formally supported by Citrix, however it is possible (with limitations) to use it in some instances. It is not advised for use in a production environment but many developers find it useful especially if they have limited access to hardware.

Use cases are typically around providing training or demo environments, providing the ability to provision virtualised XenServer hosts.

Running XenServer on top of XenServer isn't a supported or sensible production system. However it is something developers writing products or scripts against the API sometimes do as a test environment. Blow away some XenServer VMs with your coding bugs rather than hosts.This is mentioned in the XenServer release notes: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX134582 "As an alternative sandbox testing environment, you can install XenServer as a generic HVM Guest using the Other install media template (2048MB of memory and a disk size of at least 12GB is recommended). Note that the Guest's IP address will not be reported though the CLI or XenCenter. "

Please note that because “Other Install Media” is an HVM install the performance will correspondingly be unsuitable for production systems. Some users use this as part of their hardware compatibility testing.

Demo Licences (formally known as NFR licenses)

XenServer is now open source and as such developers have free access to the functionality, source code and builds. Commercially supported Citrix XenServer licensing offers some usability tools in particular associated with upgrades and hotfix application. Developers wishing to access demo licenses of commercially support XenServer can do so by joining the Citrix Ready Partnering Program.

Demo Licenses for Citrix Products

Developers producing products for XenServer as a Platform for products such as Citrix CloudPlatform or XenDesktop and for use in mobility solutions can obtain free demo licenses for test and development via the Citrix Ready Partner program. Licenses are available for

Citrix XenDesktop (with XenApp)

Citrix VDI-in-a-Box

Citrix XenServer

Citrix XenServer Per Socket

Citrix Access Gateway VPX

Citrix NetScaler VPX

Citrix Access Gateway Universal

Citrix AppDNA Enterprise

Cloud Gateway Enterprise

Virtual Test Labs and Infrastructure

Vendors with limited experience or infrastructure for the testing of virtualised solutions may wish to explore using third party provision including Citrix Ready’s virtual test labs or consultancy solutions. Details of the can be found on the Citrix Site http://www.citrix.co.uk/partner-programs/citrix-ready/test.html, Citrix Ready Virtual Lab is an online lab that makes it simple for Citrix ecosystem partners to verify their products for the Citrix Ready program. The lab environment is preconfigured according to the requirements of select Citrix Ready verifications and contains the servers that most ISV partners require to verify their products.

Community Experience

The SDK and General XenServer User forums are frequented by many developers and XenServer users with experience of testing and using products for XenServer and can be a useful place to ask questions about testing products writeen against the APIs. Vendors and developers often recruit beta testers on the forums and many forum users welcome the chance to give developers feedback whilst products are in development.

About XenServer

XenServer is the leading open source virtualization platform, powered by the Xen Project hypervisor and the XAPI toolstack. It is used in the world's largest clouds and enterprises.